尊敬的费莫奇先生，在采访之前，我们在互联网上搜索到你，奇怪的是，你的名字是和“疯狂”“激情”连在一起的，为什么？
Before we come here to start this interview, I want to know about you, so I searched you through internet, the most words I found is “Crazy” and “passion”, I am very interested in the two words, can you tell us some?
费莫奇：在2000年，我创建了MFG.com，很多人认为这是最差的时机去开始网络贸易，因为当时适逢全球互联网泡沫的破裂，很多网站纷纷倒闭，而我却把大量的资金投入到互联网去，我的资金不是来自融资和贷款，全都是我自己的钱，我的积蓄、信用卡和我拥有的一切都投入到我的事业中了。所以很多人认为我一定是疯了，没有大学学历，而且把自己的所有积蓄都投入到网络上。
我是从一名机械工人成长起来的，我十分钟爱金属加工行业。在作为一名机械工人的期间，我较早地了解到了很多数控加工（CNC）和CAD/CAM软件方面的知识，这些都是我激情的来源。然后我发现，把我所知的CNC和CAD/CAM方面的技术、金属加工方面的知识经验与互联网结合在一起是如此完美。我所做的正是将我对制造业的激情投入到了我最理想的事业中，所以我会为之充满激情而疯狂。
I started the internet business in 2000, which was the worst time for Internet. I did it myself, I put everything I own, like my retirement savings, my credit cards, everything to start the business. So, I did it in the worst time, I put everything invested into it, I don’t have a college degree, I just came from a machine shop. People would say what he is thinking? He must be crazy.
Because I came up as a machinist, I really love machining and I like copying machine I worked for a machine shop, and I learned a lot about machining, CNC and CAD/CAM very early. All that suppose be a passion for me, and then to able to take what I learn about technology from CNC and CAD/CAM and machining into the internet, it is just a perfect business. That is why I am very passionate about it.
MFG.com在海外非常知名，然而进入中国市场时间还不长，您能介绍一些MFG.com的情况吗？
MFG is very famous overseas, can you introduce MFG to our Chinese readers and companies?
费莫奇：MFG是一家全球制造业在线市场，我们在美国和欧洲有大量的买家，他们可以免费使用我们的在线服务发布大量机械零部件、机械零件加工、塑料模具等方面的询盘，他们可以即时更新需求产品的图纸和技术参数，快速找到匹配其订单要求的供应商，以及供应商的产品和生产能力等各种资料，可以在线交流，并实现在线发询价信息，在线接收报价，在线下单，节省了大量的时间。买家可以通过我们的系统发现他们从前并不认识的供应商，而供应商可以找到从事加工事业的全球买家，使供应商与买家建立起长期的合作关系。
在我刚开始从事这项工作时，我并没有想到他会成为国际化的业务，只是在美国本地范围内，然后我接到了来自中国供应商的电话，想要加入我们。我们只有50多家中国客户，没有在线市场，没有给他们提供更多的支持，所以我想要找出其中的原因，于是我只身来到了上海，就有了这家上海办事处。
MFG.com is an online market place for the manufacturing industry. We have buyers in the US and Europe. They use our service to request for quotes for machine parts, machine parts fabricated, and plastic mould parts. They use it for free, they create requests for quote, they upload their engineering drawings all the specifications, and then the system matches automatically to the right suppliers. They show what equipment they have and the capability, the suppliers receive their request, and they can collaborate with the buyers, message each other, and speak over the phone online. They come together and make a deal. Now it’s buyers discovering suppliers they don’t know about, and supplier discovering people they are looking for machining work all over the world!
When I start the business, I didn’t know it was going to be international business, I started just in the US, while companies started to call me from China, saying “Can we join your market place?”, and we had no one speaks Chinese, no one in my office have been to China. “So sure here is the bank account, wire the money”, I said, and the company did send the money, and then they started winning work in America, and then other shops hearing about it start calling to join us. So before I knew it, I had fifty costumers in China without even trying, no marketing, no support. I’d better figure out what’s going on, so I came here in Shanghai myself without knowing anyone.
2006年，mfg.com并购了瑞士非常知名的sourcingparts.com网站，mfg网站的成交量也达到了50亿美元，你们是怎样做到的？
In 2006, after MFG purchased Sourcingparts.com, MFG has become the most global manufacturing market online, and your purchase volume was over 5 billion US dollars last year, could you tell me how did you do?
费莫奇：在2000年我刚成立MFG时，这个数字是非常低的，是从一个买家做起的，之后我们的业务就像滚雪球一样越做越大，越来越多的人知道了MFG，越来越多的人加入我们，我们的业务加速增长，到今天我们已经有十万客户。
非常幸运我们有庞大的客户群体是我们的业务不断增长，同时我们也有自己的研发机构，支持与升级我们的在线市场技术，并购欧洲最大的制造业定制需求采购平台瑞士sourcingparts.com，从而成为全球最大的制造业在线市场。在起始阶段，我们只有50多家中国客户，没有在线市场，没有给他们提供更多的支持，所以我想要找出其中的原因，于是我只身来到了上海，考察中国市场。很幸运，我遇到了现在的中国总经理金晓兵。于是现在就有了MFG.com中国分公司。
It started slow in 2000, I had like only one buyer, the first part to machine, and then it began to be like a snowball rolling down a hill and gets bigger and bigger all the time, and online they have to hear the effect. More and more people come and you had a big community, and it start to grow in an effidencial rate. In the early 2000, there were a lot of online companies try to service the manufacturing industries. But there is really only the place in the world for one good market place, just like TAOBAO. And it’s the same manufacturing industries, one company gets all the people and other ones go out of the business. We are very fortunate that we got the biggest mass of people souring the manufacturing services. We now have over 100,000 clients all over the world.
MFG在中国的发展计划是什么样的？中国供应商在MFG网站能有哪些获益？
2006 was a very successful year to MFG, you purchased Sourcingparts.com in Europe and started your first office in China in 2006, so what is your big plan in China? Why you choose last year, and what can Chinese suppliers get from MFG?
费莫奇：我在中国的计划是真诚地关注中国的供应商，为中国的供应商提供最好的服务。目前我们在上海的办事处有25名员工，大多数是客户服务与支持人员和工程师，他们正努力搭建中国与美国和欧洲的桥梁。我们帮助中国的公司在美国做生意，同时帮助美国的公司在中国做生意。有时很多客户需要语言便利的系统，可以非常容易地看懂工程图纸，所以我们的团队为他们提供了所有帮助，取得了良好的声誉。声誉是最重要的，我现在最关心的也是建立良好的声誉和关爱我们的客户，我坚信良好的声誉和关爱客户将会使MFG受益良多，并使MFG从中获利。但是我目前现在并不关心MFG能赚多少钱，我现在最关注的依然是能为更多的客户提供优质的服务。
加入MFG，中国的供应商可以赢得美国和欧洲市场的生意，可以联络到从前他们不可能见到的买家，这也是互联网络美好的一面，让很多互不相识的人通过网络结识。买家可以发布询盘，供应商可以立即找到他们匹配的询盘。比如一家中国供应商想要开拓欧美市场，他们可以选择坐飞机来到美国，但是要去哪里，该给谁打电话，这是非常困难的。但是通过我们的服务，供应商可以确切地知道我们提供的服务，可以看到工程图纸等各种信息，可以在线报价，通过网络沟通，不用离开工程就可以赢得生意。
Our plan is to take really good care of customers, we got 25 people in Shanghai now, mostly customer service and support, and we have engineers. The best thing that we are working on is building a bridge between China and US and EU. We help companies how to do business with each other, sometimes the suppliers needs the assistance of language, maybe reading the drawings, or transportation and logistics, so we put a team there to help with all that. I think the most important thing you have is your reputation, and I am more concerned now is building a great reputation and loving our customers, then generating profit quickly, because I think if we take care of our customers and build a good reputation and the profit will come, and we will make a lot of money, but I am not interested in that now, I am interested in taking good care of our customers.
The Chinese suppliers can win business with companies in North America and Europe, they can connect customers they never would meet, the internet is beautiful in that way, it allows companies and people to come together and find each other which would be never possible in the traditional world. For a Chinese supplier, what is the option if they want to do business with US customers? They can go to airplane, fly to America, get off their airplane, and then who do they call? Where can they get? it’s very hard. With our service, they know exactly who needs my services today and they have the drawings, they can look at it and give the quote and collaborate, they could win business without go out of their shop.
We are very lucky that we found the wonderful people and I met James Jin, general manager of China Operations, he had a background of manufacturing and internet, and he is a good businessman. I am very confident about MFG China.
你怎么样看待中国市场？在中国，你认为您最强劲的对手会是谁？你的优势又在哪？毕竟，中国有句古话，“知己知彼，百战不殆”
What do you know about Chinese manufacturing market, and do you have strong competitiveness in China? Like an old Chinese saying, know yourself and know your enemy, victory is assured, do you know about your Chinese competitors? What is your advantage?
费莫奇：我每天都在关注和学习中国的制造业也市场，从我的中国员工那里，通过拜访客户等各种方式不断学习，对于任何一个想要开拓新市场的人而言，了解你所从事领域里的未知数是非常重要，你必须要正视它，所以我来到中国以后便竭尽所能去了解中国的市场。
对于MFG而言，目前在全球还没有直接的竞争者，像有些其他的采购平台，所提供的服务与我们是不同的，你可以把产品放在他们的系统上，然后等待买家来发现您的产品完成交易。而我们所提供的服务是你可以直接从众多买家那里看到他们的采购需求，然后看看你是否可以生产并联系买家。我们在欧洲和北美有非常棒的生产商群体，也就是说我们拥有大量的买家，我们是带着真实的采购需求来寻找供应商，这是我们的成功秘诀和优势所在。
当MFG刚刚起步的时候，因为我有CAD/CAM的从业经验。我的CAD行业的客户他们设计零件，需要找人加工。然而，CAM软件的用户是金属加工企业，他们需要订单。当我拜访CAD用户时，他们会问我“你认识谁能够帮我们加工这个零件吗？”这个问题在我拜访CAM用户的时候得到圆满地解决，因此MFG拥有了最早的一些客户，客户的数量也得到了发展。只有供应商，没有采购商，你的业务就会崩溃掉。
I am learning about Chinese manufacturing market everyday as I can, I am learning from everybody here, visiting customers. As anyone wants to go into a new market, I think it’s very important to realize what you don’t know.
There are no direct competitors in the world for us, there are some services like Alibaba and Globalsources are directly tech companies, but they are not doing what we do. With Alibaba, you can take a directory thing, and you wait for a buyer to call you hopefully. On our service, you look for the request right for you, and you got all the information for the buyers and then you can engage with them. On Alibaba you react to someone calling you, on our system you are proactive, because a big world of people are sourcing machining, and you can find them or call them up, or send them e-mail and cooperate the job. We got a really nice big group of producers in North America and Europe they want to buy. Alibaba started in China, they get a lot of suppliers, but they don't have a lot of buyers, it’s easier for us to have the buyers and come to the suppliers.
When I started the business, I had a CAD/CAM business, selling software. And my CAD customers were designing the parts, while my CAM customers were the machine shops. When I visited my clients designing parts and they would say” Do you know someone they can machine it for me?”, when I visited my machine shops, they would say ”we need more works!”. So I introduced people to meet each other, that is the idea MFG.com came!
Having that CAD/CAM business and a lot of engineer using the software, so I had a base of people could be buyers. Once you have the base of buyers, you can grow bigger and bigger, and you can make money from it. But with suppliers, you can’t bring the buyers and the business automatically is going to collapse.
如何取得中国供应商的信任？
What do you do to win the trust of Chinese suppliers?
费莫奇：我们可以让供应商免费的试用我们的系统，看到买家的需求，查找是否有他们适合生产的产品，当然不能使用报价功能。最重要的是你可以分享其他成功企业的经验，看看他们是如何做的。
Well, We have a number ways, we can give them a free test try so they can use the system and they can’t do the quoting, but they can go in the system to look at the requests, and make sure the thing is kind of work right for them. We also show them in real time on our sites the words our buyers ordered the job, so they can see the type of work being worded. So they can talk to the people at office in Shanghai. But the best thing you can possibly do is to have other people that were successful talking about it, and saying “it works for me, tell me more details”.
MFG取得了极大的成功，在您的创业初期，就像中国金属加工在线一样，一定有许多鲜为人知的故事和经验，可以与我们分享一下吗？
MFG.com has achieved great success. But being a new website like www.mw1950.com, you must have some stories at the beginning, could you share some with us?
费莫奇：我是从一名机械工人起家的，我只上了3个礼拜的大学，然后到机械工厂工作，但是我学到了很多CNC、CAD/CAM、机械加工等方面的知识，前面已提到过，网络又是一个纽带把他们连在一起，在成立MFG前，我销售过CAD/CAM软件，我非常注重与客户保持良好的关系，花很多时间和他们在一起。我的很多工程师客户说他们使用CAD/CAM软件花了很多心思设计产品，很希望有人能够生产出来；而我的生产商客户希望去生产加工更多零件产品，问我是否知道有人需要生产产品。于是我同时邀请了设计工程师和生产商到一起，让他们愉快的交流。于是我便建立了一个网站，把工程师的设计图纸放到了网上，然后看到有人在使用它，我非常惊讶，问我否可以加入到我的在线市场，我说没问题，500块，然后他们欣然付款，我突然发现我正在做的就是网上贸易。我的网上贸易事出偶然，我之前从没想到我会进行网上贸易，我意识到这是最好的方式开始新的生意。
如果你用你的全部激情去做某件事，财富就会走向你，如果你追逐财富，你永远也得不到。我开始从事这项业务，完全是因为我对制造业和金属加工充满激情，并不是对于金钱充满激情。
我做事会从长远眼光考虑，所以我们会调整市场，让我们的业务越做越好。全球的市场对于我们来说是一个挑战，北美买家的需求会越来越多，而中国的供应商产品质量好、价格合理、交货按时，所以北美买家说，我们需要更多的中国产品。但是也有很多美国的工厂说，我们不能跟中国的工厂竞争，你这样做会对美国的生产工厂不利。我说这不是我的原因，这是经济全球化的趋势，如果没有MFG，也会有其他人去做同样的事。我并不认为这会对美国的生产厂商不利，反而会刺激他们，让他们学习如何做的更好。同时我也鼓励美国的生产厂商与中国的厂商保持良好的关系，相互借鉴。
目前，MFG在中国有125家供应商企业，但是对于任何市场而言，买家和供应商的数量是相对增长的，你增加买家的数量，你就会有更多的供应商，你必须保持一个平衡，这样你的市场才会越做越大，所以我不会一味地去增加供应商或买家的数量，我们会保持一定的增长速度。
I was very fortunate that I met the magazine MMS, Reckline the president of the MMS. They called me one day said one of their customer told them about how much they like mfg.com. So I went to visit MMS’ office. Mr Reckline said, ”This is wonderful, we have the machine shops, their need word, this is the great service for them”, so we got the strategic partnership, they would drive the needs of machine shops about us and we will pay them commission on the sales. So you can see MFG’s advertisement on their magazines and website. So we did the same thing on the buyer side, we magazines for the buyers, I don't have that much money to buy the advertisements, so I said to them, “If any buyer registers in our system and create their requests, then I will send you money”, they said “ok”, so we went all magazines to earn the buyers, they rent advertisements and stories.
The print media is what help to build the business, because what print media does, “it tells people what they don’t know they need it, they didn't know us exit”. So we could say, “Without the print media, we could not be so successful”. So the strategic relationship with the publishers really helped us to get well known in American markets!
